A £5 umbrella has six to eight aluminium ribs and lasts a season. A £70 one adds fibreglass ribs, a coated canopy and a long guarantee, but still has a straight grip that gets left behind. At £35 the Ombriel Loop puts the money into ten fibreglass-reinforced ribs, a 1500 mm canopy, a UPF50+ lining and a ring handle that clips on.
Compact umbrellas come in three price bands, and the gap between them is bigger than it looks on the shelf. We make a £34.99 one, so read this knowing that. The figures for the other two bands are category norms from published product listings, not tests of particular models.
What do you get for £5 to £20?
Six to eight aluminium ribs, a plain polyester canopy at roughly a 300 mm water column, a straight plastic grip, manual or auto-open only. It weighs little and it fits a pocket. It also inverts in a fresh breeze, the aluminium stays bent, the canopy soaks in heavy rain, and there is no warranty because there is no one to claim from. Most people who buy one buy another within the year. If you lose umbrellas often, this band is rational; there is no point buying a good one to leave on the bus.
What do you get for £60 to £75?
This is the heritage and outdoor-brand band. Eight or nine fibreglass ribs, a coated canopy whose rating is rarely published, a leather or wooden grip, often a sleeve, and usually a two-to-five-year guarantee with a repair fee. The build is genuinely good. What you are also paying for is the name and the grip, which is still a straight grip that goes in a bag and gets left there. Auto open and close is common; UV lining is less so.
What do you get for £35?
The Ombriel Loop sits between the two, and the money went into the parts that fail and the part that gets lost.
- Ten ribs in aluminium alloy with fibreglass tail sections, in a triangular frame. Rated for gusts to 31 mph, Beaufort force 6.
- High-density pongee canopy rated to a 1500 mm water column, so it beads and shakes dry.
- Black inner coating rated UPF50+, blocking 99 per cent of UV.
- One button for open and close.
- A ring handle with a sprung gate that clips to a bag, a hook, a pram or a rail.
- 105 cm open, 37 cm folded, about 490 g, eight colours matched through the handle and strap.
- 12-month guarantee on manufacturing defects, replaced or refunded.
What it does not have: a leather grip, a sleeve, a heritage name. We think the ring does more for you than any of those, because the umbrella you still own beats the one you left on a train.
What does each cost over three winters?
Assume a compact umbrella is used through three winters. A £5 to £20 one replaced each season costs £15 to £60 and spends a good part of each winter bent. A £60 to £75 one is a single purchase if you do not lose it, plus a possible repair fee. A £35 one with a ring handle is a single purchase with, in our experience, a much better chance of still being on your bag in year three. None of these is a bad decision. They are just different bets on how often you lose things.
How to tell the bands apart on a shelf
Count the ribs and look for orange or coloured fibreglass strips near the canopy edge. Look for a wind rating in mph rather than the word windproof. Press the button and see whether it closes as well as opens. Turn it over and see whether the inside is black. Then look at the handle and ask where it will be at 5 pm on a wet Tuesday. Our full buying guide goes through each of these.
